How it all began

Everybody knows that Eli was a factory rider and had top-notch equipment. He was provided with the highest quality bikes of the time, but was there room for improvement? It turns out yes and more than anybody expected. We received a call from John Tomac early in 2007, inquiring about what we had to offer in the way of ceramic bearings and other friction treatments.

We mentioned that we were involved in some outside engine research. Intrigued, he wondered if we would be interested "broadening our scope" to include some of Eli's equipment. It wasn't hard to say yes and that was the beginning of the most important two years in the history of our company.

It started with research

When MicroBlue® was introduced to industry some time ago, we were approached by Aerodyne Research, Inc. asking if we were interested in a research program with the EPA. They were looking at ways to reduce particulate emissions (smoke) from 2-stroke engines. A plan was put in place, coordinated by Aerodyne and Dr. Kurt Annen would oversee the project for the EPA. Kurt was an interesting fellow. He was also the Principal Research Engineer and Director of the Center for Energy and Propulsion Technologies. His knowledge of combustion in all forms was truly impressive. It was through this project that really moved things forward for us.

The EPA leaf blower program

At the time, the EPA was working on ways to reduce 2-stroke emissions and what was unexpected to us was their desire to use common 2-stroke leaf blowers. Their thinking was that the relatively inefficient engine design and manufacturing mimicked the performance of most commercially available 2-stroke engines in use.

The results are a matter of record and at the end, we eliminated 100% the detectable particulate. How did we do it? It had something to do with the 200:1 gas/oil mixture that we used. At the end, the EPA asked that we perform a "severe duty" 60 hour full throttle life test. Afterwords we sent the engine to them and they found no detectable engine wear, zero.

Kurt was an amazing person, his insight and intellectual wit was second to none, and was a real pleasure to work with. At the end, we asked what he thought of the results. His response was classic:

"It's becoming clear that the paradigm of combustion, as we currently understand it,  is in a state of transition"

Powerful words. Take a minute to think about it's implications in gas and diesel engines, both 2-stroke and 4. What he said is that the fundamentals of combustion will forever be changed and they were.

Take a look at this video that was posted in 2010, the day before we headed to the Redbud National MX with a MicroBlue prepared YZ 250 2-stroke, also running at 200:1 to take on the factory 450's:

WATCH THE HOMELITE 200:1 VIDEO HERE

From then to today, things just keep getting better

In our minds, the "Tomac Experience" was just the beginning of a multi-year journey that has allowed us to more fully understand how MicroBlue's "lubricant magnet" properties  can best be used and it would be the foundation to our performance gains and  gains in engine life that goes on to this day.

It was without doubt, the most important experience for us and we could not have done it without the excellent help and knowledge we learned working with them. Thank you John and Eli!